Our trip through the news stories of 2018 continues with a look back over what happened in June this year. Hannah Gadsby got the world’s attention, Lyle Shelton fought with sodastream, Barnaby Joyce wanted new privacy laws and being transgender was taken off the official list of mental illnesses.
Politics
Marriage Alliance spokesperson Sophie York announced she’d quit the Liberal party and signed up to Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives where she’d run for a spot in the senate at the next federal election. Lyle Shelton was amazed people were allowed to use gender neutral toilets without wearing a dress! He then went on to have a fight with Sodasteam.  New South Wales removed forced divorce for transgender people, and Queensland followed suit. Barnaby Joyce said Australian’s needed stronger privacy laws after a photographer photographed him attending church. The image of George Christensen performing Beyonce was burned into our memories for all time, Robbie Katter proposed laws to protect people from gender neutral language. Posters of Clive Palmer appeared everywhere. In WA The Greens introduced a bill to end religious based discrimination in schools. Attorney General John Quigley said he couldn’t look at the issue because the Ruddock Review had not been released, LGBTI advocates labeled his comments as “ridiculous”.
In the news
It was revealed that almost 2,500 same-sex couples had wed since’s the laws changed in January. The US Supreme Court ruled in favour of a baker who refused to serve a same-sex couple, Pride WA revealed their new committee. Local researcher tackled Lesbian Bed Death. SBS program The Feed headed to the USA to investigate gays and guns, A New Zealand child care centre were chastised after they revealed a staff member’s HIV status to the entire community. The WA AIDS Council office reopened following storm damage. Veteran LGBTI rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was arrested in Russia. The royal family announced their first same sex union. Pope Francis spoke out agaisnt rainbow families. The Press Council found that website news.com had misrepresented a rally outside a Brisbane church during the marriage debate. The World Health Organisation removed being transgender from the official list of mental disorders. The NRL told viewers upset over a same-sex kiss to “get over it”. Blair Cottrell and his followers harassed a street performer. Sydney police reopened hundreds of unsolved assaults and murder cases suspected of being gay hate crimes. Self described troll Milo Yiannopoulos said the media were being unkind to him.
Celebrity
Western Australian based musician Pogo, aka Nick Bertke, was under fire for a video he posted that showed him celebrating the deaths of gay people in the Pulse nightclub massacre went viral, he followed it up with an apology video claiming he was actually part of the LGBTI community because he is “bi-curious”, in a second apology he blamed the video on him suffering from bipolar disorder and Asperger’s syndrome, taking a stab at a third attempt at an apology Bertke described himself as a “total idiot”. Author Jilly Cooper said men were turning gay because they fear women, radio host Amanda Keller labeled former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce a hypocrite. The model from Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe video said he hated playing a homosexual. Comedian Tom Ballard denied accusations he had acted inappropriately during a sexual encounter with Adelaide comedian JooYung Roberts. Emma Thompson was made a dame. Actor Wilson Cruz shared his coming out experience. RnB singer Syd spoke about being gay. Actor Amandla Stenberg said she now identifies as gay. Cynthia Nixon shared that she has a transgender son. Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black announced the birth of their son.
Culture
Everyone was talking about Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette. Betty Who revamped the theme to Queer Eye and the boys made a trip to Yass, composer Tchaikovsky’s gay love letters were revealed, Ariana Grande wrote a love letter to the gay community. We got our first look at  A Star is Born, Troye Sivan dropped a video for Bloom, we chatted to indie musician Snail Mail.  The director of a world famous jazz festival was fired before he even took up his new role because of his past homophobic comments, we interviewed The Presets, Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield won Tony Awards. We chatted to Wentworth actor Bernard Curry. Blue Power Ranger actor David Yost shared his experiences of homophobia in the entertainment industry. The Voice got down to its final four singers before WA’s Sam Perry was named the winner. Artistic director of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Richard Wolstencroft, retracted his resignation saying the festival would not be a place where he could be as racist, homophobic and offensive as he wanted. Local artist Zan released his amazing EP.  TV show Roseanne transformed into The Connors.  It was time for the last dance at Ambar.
